Northern Ireland’s iconic crisp brand, Tayto, has announced the reopening of The Famous Tayto Castle tours, just in time for the summer.
The relaunched attraction, which has created at least 5 new jobs, is at the Tayto factory in the grounds of Tayto Castle, where over 250 people work with the capacity to make 1,000,000 packs of Tayto every day.
Elly Hunter, Marketing Director, Tayto, said: “We had to close early in 2020 due to lockdown and we are incredibly excited to be in the position to reopen our doors.
“Following a NI wide search for tour guides, we’re delighted to report that we have found some incredibly enthusiastic people to join the Tayto team and ensure visitors have the best time possible when they’re with us.”
Tayto tours have attracted visitors from far and wide and are especially popular with school groups, colleges, universities, clubs and societies, together with family groups, and can accommodate all ages from 5 upwards.
Elly continued: “We’ve welcomed people from all over the globe, with a large number from GB, Canada, the USA and as far away as Australia and South Africa. People will go a long way for Tayto crisps.
“It’s lovely to see families on the tour and more often than not mum and dad did the same tour when they were children. It’s very touching to see them passing on the tradition.”
Visitors to The Famous Tayto Castle are in for a real treat.
“The Tayto factory is located within the grounds of a 500-year-old castle in Tandragee”, continued Elly. “A truly unique and stunning setting for everyone who comes to see us.”
“On a tour, visitors will see firsthand how our famous crisps and snacks are made and get the chance to meet Mr Tayto. They will see the production process from start to finish, witnessing the transformation of our local potatoes into packaged, delicious Tayto crisps. They will also see how our snacks and popcorn are made.
“We are so looking forward to welcoming visitors back once again and introducing a new generation of Tayto fans to our famous Tour.” concluded Elly.
Tayto Tours will be running from 7th May. There are two tours daily from Monday to Friday. Places are limited so you need to book ahead online at www.taytotours.com.
Visit www.tayto.com to find out more about Northern Ireland’s favourite crisps.
TAYTO – OUR STORY
Founded by Thomas Hutchinson in 1956, our family owned business selects the finest potatoes and uses local ingredients to produce great tasting crisps and snacks for everyone to enjoy a #taytohappy moment!
‘Tayto Castle’, which is over 500 years old is in Tandragee, Co.Armagh. Within the Castle grounds is a closely guarded room where our distinct flavours, including our world-famous Cheese & Onion, are made to the same recipe since the beginning.
Our crisps are enjoyed (and seen) all over the world and we’ve some very famous fans including Jamie Dornan, Eamonn Holmes, Derry Girls, Ant & Dec, Snow Patrol and many more!
FUN FACTS
- Tayto is NI’s leading crisp brand with over 35% market share
- 1 in every 4 packets of crisps sold in Northern Ireland is Tayto Cheese & Onion
- The company was formed in 1956 by the late Thomas Hutchinson
- The company started with a workforce of 6 people
- On our first day of productions 972 packets of crisps were produced
- Tayto now employs over 350 people
- Tayto is capable of producing 1 million packs of crisps & snacks per day
- Tayto uses over 20,000 tons of potatoes each year
- Tayto uses 3000 litres of oil every day in the production of crisps & Snacks
- Tayto’s most popular flavour is still cheese & onion
- Tayto’s most popular Snack is Bikers
- Tayto has agents in several countries and exports to the USA, Canada, Japan, Germany, Bahrain, Andorra, with ongoing enquiries from other countries round the world
- Tayto now distributes to 43 different countries around the world via online sales to customers in Brazil, Malaysia, Jamaica, Oman, Syria, Vietnam and many more
